Leaders from VCU and Sheltering Arms break ground Tuesday on their new rehabilitation institute in Goochland County. (Photo by Julia Rendleman)

Sheltering Arms Hospital and VCU Health System broke ground Tuesday to begin construction on a 114-bed rehabilitation facility that will be located on 25 acres in the West Creek Medical Park off Broad Street Road, just east of the state Route 288 interchange in Goochland County.

Officials and staff from both organizations were present in addition to donors, patients, community members and other leaders in the community. Attendees heard remarks from Virginia Commonwealth University President Michael Rao, Ph.D.; Sheltering Arms President and CEO Mary Zweifel; Dianne Jewell, D.P.T., Ph.D., chair of the Sheltering Arms board of directors; and patients Cole Sydnor and Berry Williams, who shared their perspectives on what the joint venture will offer the community.

“Today marks an important step forward in our plan to bring advanced technology, research and evidence-based clinical care together under one roof in order to offer our patients the best possible outcomes for success. Today we celebrate the building that will bring that goal to life,” Zweifel said.

The joint venture combines inpatient beds from both organizations to create a multimillion-dollar state-of-the-art destination hospital focused on caring for individuals who have survived strokes, spinal cord injuries or brain injuries, as well as those in need of general rehabilitation or various neurological diseases and disorders.

“This is one more way that VCU Health is committed to providing the very best care for the people of the Richmond region and continuing to advance our mission of serving the public good and helping restore the health of those who need us,” said Deborah Davis, CEO of VCU Health System Hospitals and Clinics and vice president for clinical affairs at VCU. “We are proud to provide a new avenue of access in our community to the leading-edge thinking, research, teaching and clinical practice which has made VCU Health nationally renowned.”

Rendering of the facility.

Sheltering Arms has two rehabilitation hospitals and 11 outpatient centers, as well as a full continuum of outpatient medical/therapy services and community-based programs that include recreational therapy and fitness.

VCU Health System treats patients at several area locations, including its facilities at the VCU Medical Center in downtown Richmond, Stony Point, Short Pump and the VCU Sports Medicine Clinic adjacent to the Siegel Center.

All outpatient services will operate separately for now and into the foreseeable future.

Sheltering Arms Rehab Institute is expected to open its doors in late spring of 2020.